crawlspace encapsulation

[John Dirks Jr]

Have you ever seen a crawlspace completely encapsulated including the floor structure? I have not. It sucked that I could not see any floor structure or anything for that matter. Is this a new idea I don't know about? I'm slightly concerned it's a cover up.

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[kurt]

That ain't encapsulation. That's just a bunch of plastic.

POS.

[Brandon Whitmore]

That's bad...

[John Dirks Jr]

That ain't encapsulation. That's just a bunch of plastic.

POS.

Agreed totally. There was rigid foam insulation on the foundation walls behind the plastic. But anyway, when it comes to encapsulation done correctly, the floor structure would still be exposed, right?

[Erby]

Yes, exposed. Here's encapsulation. Don't see it too often. Way expensive.

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Then there's this form of encapsulation, plastic on the bottom of the joists!

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It was so tempting to poke a hole in that bubble, but I resisted.

[Marc]

That ain't encapsulation. That's just a bunch of plastic.

POS.

Agreed totally. There was rigid foam insulation on the foundation walls behind the plastic. But anyway, when it comes to encapsulation done correctly, the floor structure would still be exposed, right?

The only question I have is whether smoke index and flammability specs kick in if the encapsulated space becomes part of the conditioned spaces of the house.

Marc

[John Dirks Jr]

There's no ventilation to the outside and no introduction of conditioned air into the space. So, there's really a whole bunch of nothing going on. Someone needs to decide whether its going to be a conditioned or unconditioned space and then finish it correctly either way.

This write up will be a fat paragraph by the time I'm done with it.

[Marc]

You might suggest this book:

Crawl Space Science by Lawrence Janesky, 7th edition (2012)

Marc

[tim5055]

John,

Here is the thread to my crawl space encapsulation saga.

https://www.inspectorsjournal.com/forum ... C_ID=18281

What they have done in that crawl is crap. Probably a homeowner thinking he was dong a great job.

All of the companies I talked to before having mine done advised that a professional job will always stop 2 - 4 inches below the rim joist so that there was a gap for pest control companies to inspect. Plus they advised there should always be movement of humidity between the living space and the crawl.

[John Dirks Jr]

I wrote it up good, trust me.